It sounds easy. In or Out. This is the worst week in the world for bubble teams, when a team like Cleveland State defeats an at large team like Butler in the league championship game, the bubble teams get slimmer and slimmer. All of these teams are routing for the favorites to win their conferences just to make the number of at-large teams as big as it can. Many of the bubble teams breathed a sign of relief the other night when Gonzaga went out and won their conference leaving the door open to another at-large team. But for those teams on the bubble it's easy, at least to me..."Play your way in!" Here's a look at some of the bubble teams the need to be paid attention to the rest of the week and my prediction for them as of 03/11/09 at 10:15 a.m.
Miami - The Good: a SOS of 26 is very good. great home victories verses Wake Forest and Florida State. a season sweep of bubble team Boston College. The Bad: a 7-9 conference record is never good for a bubble team. a loss at home verses fellow bubble team Va Tech. FORECAST: A good showing in the conference tourney gets them in IN
Penn State - The Good: 6 wins against the RPI's top 50. 21 wins total and a 10-8 Big Ten record. Sweep of Illinois and win at Michigan State. The Bad: a SOS ranked 98. and a laughable non-conference schedule ranked 309. FORECAST: 1 victory in the Big Ten tourney should lock them IN
Florida - The Good: 9-7 SEC record. defeated 9 of RPI's top 100 teams. The Bad: 2 wins over the RPI's top 50. a terrible loss to Georgia. 2-7 road record in the SEC. FORECAST: The Gators must win the SEC tournament or they'll be OUT
Boston College - The Good: a 9-7 ACC record. victories over Duke and FSU at home and UNC on the road. The Bad: a loss verses Georgia Tech Saturday. a SOS ranking of 70. FORECAST: A loss to Virginia in the opening round of the ACC tourney should knock them out but I don't see them losing that game so their IN
Wisconsin - The Good: 10-8 Big Ten record. a SOS ranked 15th in the nation. The Bad: 4-9 verses the RPI's top 50. Swept by Minnesota. The quality of wins are hard to find. FORECAST: It's hard to figure that a Bo Ryan team might not make the tourney, but I see better teams getting in over them so their OUT
Oklahoma St - The Good: a SOS ranked 6th in the nation. 25th in the computer's RPI. 9 of their 10 defeats come by the hands of the top 36 RPI teams. The Bad: 3-9 verses the top 50 RPI teams. a 1st round loss to Iowa State would really hurt. FORECAST: I find it hard to believe that the Cowboys won't get IN
Michigan - The Good: Victories over two top 5 teams UCLA and Duke. a SOS ranked 10th in the nation. the win at Minnesota Saturday was huge. The Bad: Swept by Wisconsin and Michigan State. Went through a stretch where wins were hard to come by. FORECAST: The committee can't look away from the quality wins, and the SOS but for some reason I have a bad feeling the the Wolverines will find their way OUT of the tournament
Providence - The Good: 10 wins in the Big East conference. an RPI and SOS ranked 71st and 49th respectfully. victory over then #1 Pittsburgh. The Bad: Only two wins against the RPI's top 50. 6-12 verses the top 100. FORECAST: Defeating Depaul today would help but I don't see them beating Louisville in the next round so they are OUT
No comments:
Post a Comment